locally made soymilk can be made at low cost and sold for profit in small communities. There are over 80 sites in most sub-Saharan countries which have a VitaGoat that is producing soymilk. These systems produce up to 250 litres per day; equipment cost is about $5,000. and daily profits can be $20 to $40 or more. see www.malnutrition.org

Sep 17, 2012 •

Hart, the website is great! I am Kenyan, currently a VSO in India and one reason I took up this placement was to have access to cottage industries here and learn from them. I practice small scale Agriculture back at home. Apart from lack of capital, another impedement is lack of information and resistance to change in relation to planting new crops/ indeginous such as sorghum. Currently, apart from planting sorghum, I am also piloting Sesame, mustard and soy beans with the overall aim of gauging production and eventual processing of the same. My area being dry also involves collaborating with other ngos in water harvesting etc. Please drop me a line on my email zigheus@yahoo.com as I would like to discuss more of this and see how we can collaborate. Thanks - Stephanie Zighe • 5 years

I think the gastronomic culture of most africans hasnt changed much.we practice what i call mono dieting where we eat one kind of food which generally may have more of a certain nutritional component than the others.to help curb the situation the most important thing to do is to educate the masses on the need for the continous consumption of balanced diet. until that is achieved, there is the need encourage the eateing of "complex" foods ie. foods made of various nutritional components which are easy to eat and to preserve. for instance, I manufacture meal of maize,wheat,soyabean,groundnuts and other ingredients which my clients really adore and testify to the fact that they have seen considerable change in the health of their kids and in themselves.
problem is there is lack of capital go on a large production. profits on this meal is about 40%. if people consumed this meal at least 4 times a week I believe malnutrition will quickly receed on our nutritional radar. - kwaku bamfo-boateng • 5 years

Africa has plenty of resources, which are wasted in huge quantities due to lack of industrial food processing and food preservation technologies. In an article (in french, sorry !) published on my website, I call it "The African Paradox". Before thinking about nutritious food, I think it is of utmost importance to speak about economic growth and industrial food development. That will help to rise the average income of the african consumer, and to alleviate food shortages and malnutrition throughout the continent.

The UN (WFP, UNICEF, USAID, UNHCR) is supplying shiploads of food on a daily basis from the US and Europe to support the refugee camps and school feeding programs. This represents an unique opportunity for African farmers and food producers. Check on-line about the required quality and nutrition criteria and apply with the local UN offices for approval of supplies.
The UN strongly supports local procurement.

Well, in Nigeria, it's a bit similar to what Kwaku describes above. A number of meals here consist of a staple, eaten with a sauce or stew. We manufacture a stew paste, PerfectBlend www.facebook.com/perfectblendng which we retail in supermarkets in Lagos.

Owing to the perishable nature of the vegetables used for stews and sauces, our customers welcome the opportunity to purchase this puree/paste and skip the risk and labour involved in purchasing and processing it themselves.